Hankook vs Kumho vs Enduro vs Accelera... advice please?

[Davie]

Budget, economy, Tesco value range... call them what you like but I'm sat here trying to decide which would be the better choice for an aging Volvo estate. Cost wise, they're all much of a muchness at circa £200 to £225 fitted but I'm struggling with which to opt for. They're not bespoke winter tyres, just normal run of the mill, middle of the road stuff but it would seem online reviews are somewhat lacking when it comes to these brands. The criteria is they need to be ok in terms of wet weather, dry weather and also rather hard wearing as the diesel is a bit hard on front tyres so will destroy soft stuff in seconds and anything too hard will be like driving on ice all year round.

I'm swaying towards the Hankooks, not sure why though.

Appreciate the input

[300bhp/ton]

erm, pretty much nobody will know the answer, as pretty nobody will buy all the tyres listed together and do a back to back comparison.

Best bet, try Google and read reviews and see what people say in general. Then make a decision yourself.

[Codswallop]

Have at look at these PH wikis;

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

May be of use. For what it's worth, I have gone through sets of Conti Sport Contact 2s, Michelin Energy, Pirelli P6000 (yeah I know - where already on the car when I bought it) and several sets of Kumho Ecsta KU31s, and tbh, in normal day to day trundling about you will not feel much difference. Better grip than the Michelins and Pirellis, about on par with the Contis in most scenarios, but far cheaper. The Kumho's were also decent in the snow last year.

For an old Volvo, they'll be fine.

[Davie]

Cheers chaps. I perhaps worded the title badly as I wasn't after a comparison as such, more seeking any thoughts on said tyres from those who have first hand experience. I've never heard of Enduro or Accelera and a bit Googling doesn't give too much away either so I took that as a bad sign and narrowed it down to the Kumhos or the Hankooks. Given it's an old Volvo currently running a mix of Dunlop, Kumho and some random crap on the rear... I think anything would be an improvement so I've opted for the Hankooks as they can be fitted 2mins up the road within the hour for a shade over £200.

Cheers anyway chaps.

[RobCrezz]

Davie said:

Cheers chaps. I perhaps worded the title badly as I wasn't after a comparison as such, more seeking any thoughts on said tyres from those who have first hand experience. I've never heard of Enduro or Accelera and a bit Googling doesn't give too much away either so I took that as a bad sign and narrowed it down to the Kumhos or the Hankooks. Given it's an old Volvo currently running a mix of Dunlop, Kumho and some random crap on the rear... I think anything would be an improvement so I've opted for the Hankooks as they can be fitted 2mins up the road within the hour for a shade over £200.

Cheers anyway chaps.

Accerlera and Enduro are crap. Kumho and Hankook arent premium, but much better.

[Nuclearsquash]

Just swapped from Dunlops to Kumho Ecstas on my golf (nothing flashy just a V5), and the Kumho are noticeably better underbraking and grip. Road noise is also significantly reduced as well. Just my 2p.

[.Adam.]

Just done the same on my Honda Jazz, between Kumho and Hankooks. Went for the Kumho purely because I know they do decent sticky rubber for my Westfield.

[soda]

My monaro was fitted with Accelera to pass MOT by the dealer, avoid

[Davie]

Cheers chaps, confirmed what I was thinking. The Kumho's were my first choice but couldn't be fitted until Monday and I'm off 'darn sarf' tomorrow morning so hence, opted for the Hankooks as they can be fitted shortly. Appreciate they're still a budget tyre however any tyre at 8mm must be better for splashing through standing water at 70mph than the 80% worn ste I've got on it just now. My only concern is the weight of the car and its habit of wearing tyres on the outside edge will destroy them in a short period of time.

We shall see...

Cheers

[RobCrezz]

Davie said:

Cheers chaps, confirmed what I was thinking. The Kumho's were my first choice but couldn't be fitted until Monday and I'm off 'darn sarf' tomorrow morning so hence, opted for the Hankooks as they can be fitted shortly. Appreciate they're still a budget tyre however any tyre at 8mm must be better for splashing through standing water at 70mph than the 80% worn ste I've got on it just now. My only concern is the weight of the car and its habit of wearing tyres on the outside edge will destroy them in a short period of time.

We shall see...

Cheers

Might be worth getting a full laser geometry setup if they arent wearing the tyres correctly. Sometimes a little bit extra pressure can make the tyres wear more even if they are wearing an edge also.

[denniswise9]

Kumhos are good.

[FamilyDub]

Kumho KU31 are ok for the price, but the later spec Kumho KU39 fared better in reviews and are pretty similar in price.

Well, for 225/45/R17 anyway

[Classic Grad 98]

Matador MP46 Hectorra II are excellent, and may well be cheapest of the bunch if they're available in your size.

[SB10]

Nuclearsquash said:

Just swapped from Dunlops to Kumho Ecstas on my golf (nothing flashy just a V5), and the Kumho are noticeably better underbraking and grip. Road noise is also significantly reduced as well. Just my 2p.

I done the same on a previous car, went from Dunlop SP's to KUmho Ecstas and there was a great diffrence. THe Kumhos were noticably better in the wet and to be honest matched them in the dry too.

[RicksAlfas]

Pal of mine got shafted by a main dealer who stuck some Acceleras on his car - "look mate - new tyres".
From what I can gather you wouldn't even sling them round the side of your tug boat.

[Davie]

RobCrezz said:

Might be worth getting a full laser geometry setup if they arent wearing the tyres correctly. Sometimes a little bit extra pressure can make the tyres wear more even if they are wearing an edge also.

When I bought the car the front tyres were badly worn on the outer edges and the shoulder had all but distorted. I had new tyres fitted and had the geometry done and it would appear it has helped as after 10,000 miles there was still evidence of outer edge wear, but no where near as bad as the first time round. The V70 does seem to have a habit of outer edge wear even after being aligned, just one of those things but I intend on replacing the lower arms and track rod ends over Christmas so shall get it rechecked then.

Back on topic, have now got four Hankook Kinergy fitted for £200 all in, which I thought was ok. Only driven about 3 miles on them so far but off on a 800 mile roundtrip in the morning so that should bed them in nicely. Looking at the reviews, they seem ok but again, it's an old diesel estate that up until an hour ago, trundled about on a mix of random crap so anything will be better.

On another note, a bespoke forum for tyres would be good... sub forums for each brand where we can post our findings/thoughts/experiences.

Anyways, cheers for the input folks.